Officials say they heard Žlabiai children after failed meetings

The State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service said its psychologists spoke with all six children from the Žlabiai family and recorded their views on Friday, while the family’s representative accused the specialists of being unprepared. LRT reported the dispute.

Dalia Jasevičienė, an assistant to the family’s lawyer, said four psychologists had met with the three older children and that one interview lasted more than an hour.

“That is not listening to a child’s opinion. The specialists came without being prepared for this procedure,” Jasevičienė told ELTA.

She said the family believed officials were creating obstacles to cooperation. She cited the removal of a psychologist who had previously worked with the family as an example. The family plans to file complaints over the actions of the specialists, she said.

“The children spoke with staff appointed by the service, but a psychologist who had previously communicated with the family and had been introduced to them was suddenly removed,” Jasevičienė said. “The service’s actions in this matter will undoubtedly be challenged because of deliberate obstacles to cooperation.”

Lina Baranauskienė, head of the Vilnius County division of the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service, confirmed to LRT that the children’s views had been heard.

She said the service had brought several psychologists because the family has six children, so the children would not have to wait and the process would not be prolonged. Normally, a child speaks one-on-one with a child rights specialist, without parents or other third parties present. The same arrangement was used during Friday’s meeting, she said.

According to Baranauskienė, the interviews followed a methodology prepared by child rights specialists, with the conversation and questions adapted to each child’s age and development.

At least two earlier attempts to meet the family’s children had been unsuccessful.

The case emerged in late July after reports about a baby with Patau syndrome who died at Kaunas Clinics. Unaware of the death, the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service decided to take six children from the family, including the baby who had died.

Kaunas Clinics had informed child rights specialists about the baby’s critical condition but notified them of the death several days later.

Child rights officials said the information about the baby’s serious condition was not the only reason for removing the other children from the Žlabiai family, which lives in Ukmergė District. They said the decision was based on the totality of circumstances indicating a need to ensure the children’s safety.

Ukmergė District Mayor Darius Varnas told ELTA that the family refused medical services and opposed vaccinations.

The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office has opened a pre-trial investigation into suspected abuse of parental rights or duties to establish the circumstances of the baby’s death.

Tags: child rights, Žlabiai family, Lithuania